


The one in which Bucky is Steve's dog

by silverspirit2005



Series: IronShield Domestic Ruffs [1]
Category: The Avengers (Marvel) - All Media Types
Genre: (I hope?), Alternate Universe - No Powers, Because of Reasons, Bucky Barnes & Steve Rogers Friendship, Bucky Barnes & Tony Stark Friendship, Domestic Fluff, Happy Ending, Harm to Animals, Humor, Hurt/Comfort, I mean it's just fitting, Kidnapping, M/M, Mentions of War, Steve is still SHIELD, also some On-Screen Violence (of the mild kind), can also be read as James Barnes/Tony Stark, featuring Bucky as Steve's dog, flangst, in a TOTALLY platonic way of course, no bestiality is involved, off-screen violence, overprotective!bucky, so are Natasha and Clint, so possible triggers
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-04-03
Updated: 2019-04-03
Packaged: 2020-01-01 09:40:33
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 9,946
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18333437
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/silverspirit2005/pseuds/silverspirit2005
Summary: Bucky is a massive cock-block. Steve can attest to this. So can Natasha. And Phil. And Sam. And Peggy.He wouldn't change him for the world.(OK, he can be less bitey though. There's only so much blood loss a man can take before it stops being sexy)





	The one in which Bucky is Steve's dog

**Author's Note:**

> I still cannot name my fics. Oh well.  
> Basically one day this popped up in my head:  
> over-protective!Bucky + dog!Bucky + much laugh at Steve's expense + Tony being an oblivious bystander = comedic gold!  
> (OK, it might not look like it, but Rachel totally agreed, and she's the voice of reasoning so it is completely legit)  
> I had oodles of fun writing this, so hope y'all enjoy! And this is for you Rachel, who indulges me as I make up silly Avenger stories, fuels me with your enthusiasm and fangirls with me whenever a new movie comes out. Thanks for all the conversations and ideas. You're the best!

There were three things that kept Steve going after he returned from Iraq.

One was his new job at SHIELD. After three tours in the Middle East, a mission that went awry and being trapped in a collapsed building for a week while war raged on outside, Steve received a shiny new medal and an honourable discharge on the grounds of his PTSD. Steve, who had grown accustomed to the dust and sweat and gunpowder and being constantly on the move, would have gone stirred crazy back in his relatively peaceful childhood neighbourhood in Brooklyn, if it was not for Phil whom he met briefly during his tours but apparently was impressed enough to offer him a job pretty much the moment he set foot back on American soil. The new job was very different from his time in the Army, requiring way more stealth and a surprising amount of diplomatic negotiations, but it was enough to keep his mind and hands busy. The pay was generous enough to let him keep his childhood townhouse and the hours flexible enough for him to pursue other hobbies, like fixing up his old Harley, resuming his drawing and spending more time with Bucky.

 

Bucky, who was the number two on his list. He met Bucky in Iraq on his second tour when they were tasked with defusing landmines in a nearby village. Bucky, a bomb detection dog, and his handler Peggy flew in from Britain for the mission. Steve had a massive crush on Peggy at the time and took to trailing after her whenever he could spare the time, much to his team’s (and surely Bucky’s) amusement. After the mission, Peggy turned him down gently, telling him that she was already engaged and flew back to England, leaving behind Steve’s broken heart and Bucky, whose command was transferred to Erskine, a quiet army doctor who was surprisingly experienced in handling army dogs. As Steve tried to get over Peggy, he grew closer and closer to Bucky, who saw him as a familiar face around the camp and offered him the closure that he needed.

During his third tour, Erskine and Bucky were transferred to another unit in Afghanistan for six months. Erskine never returned and Bucky came back with the mentality of a wild dog and a metal leg attached to the stump of his left foreleg. For weeks, he barked and growled and snapped at anyone who came near him and while he let Steve took care of him, he frequently woke Steve up in the middle of the night with long anguish howls and barks at stray light from passing vehicles. He was skittish around people and violent when others got too close, yet somehow he was still retained as a detection dog, a job he excelled at marvelously with Steve as his new handler. Steve, who was unhappy with Bucky still in war-zone, desperately asked for him to be retired. The lack of good detection dogs at the time meant that his words mostly fell on deaf ears, so when he was discharged, he took the opportunity to pull Bucky out with him, since no one else could handle him without fear of a vicious bite anyway.

Bucky took months to get used to peacetime. For nights on end he would wake up suddenly and snarl at Steve when he got too close. He reacted violently even to the shadow of himself and Steve had to restrict his movement indoors after he almost bit off the hand of a teenager who threw a pebble at him. It took a long time for Bucky to be comfortable with the house and the garden and the nearby park, but in a way, recuperating Bucky actually helped with Steve’s own issues. By helping Bucky get over his nightmares, the nightmares in Steve’s own head quieted down to just mindless dreams. Taking care of Bucky was the one thing that he could only do in Iraq but could also do now at home, it kept him anchored and distracted and desensitised him to the foreign world that was peace, which allowed him to start living his life again and more importantly, start seeing other people.

 

Which led to Tony, the third on his list. Tony, who more or less rubbed him the wrong way the moment they met at a gala at which Steve was supposed to get some intel on Hammer Corps and their underground weapon dealings to the Middle East. Tony, with his suave manner and swift movements and beautiful brown eyes, made Steve both want to strangle him and kiss him senseless against the wall. Tony, who saw Steve sneaking into Hammer’s office but only winked at him and went off to distract Hammer for a good half hour while Steve got all the files he needed. Tony, who cornered Steve at the car park and only snickered when Steve threatened him, then leaned into his space and nonchalantly talked to Clint the other side of the comm through the hidden microphone on Steve’s lapel. Tony, who turned out to be the owner of Stark Industries as well as the tech supplier for SHIELD. Tony, who made Clint’s arrows and called Natasha by pet names and could out of the blue waltz into Fury’s office without fear of being shot in the head.

 

Steve’s feeling quickly grew from loathing to begrudgingly impressed to quiet admiration. Before long, he was also helplessly head over heels with Tony, much to his colleagues' teasing and approval.

(“Stop mooning at the man and go kiss him already.”

“Clint, stop provoking him. Steve will go for it in his own time.”

“You just don’t want Steve to make a move until after February so that you can win the bet!”

“You guys bet on my relationship with Tony?!”

“Of course we do, all of us did. You broke Coulson’s heart by the way, he put it down to last week. Too bad he had no idea how chicken you are.”

“Is that why he kept looking at me like I murdered his puppies?”

“And Hill’s got another pool on when you will succumb to Tony’s manly charm and bang him in one of SHIELD’s meeting rooms. There is a shocking amount of money going into that one.”

“Oh god, stop talking Clint! And I hate all of you!”)

Steve finally manned up and asked Tony out on a date at the New Year party (turned out Bruce won the pot). On the first date, he took Tony to his favourite Italian restaurant in Queens and learned that Tony spoke fluently sinful Italian. On the second date, he took Tony ice skating and realised how adorably red Tony’s nose was when he tried to smother his face in thick layers of fleece and knitted beanie. On the third date, Tony showed him his penthouse and workshop and JARVIS and the bots, and Steve pushed Tony against the elevator wall and left a constellation of love bites on his neck.

  
Needless to say, Tony was the most frustrating and also the most magnificent thing about New York, ever-changing yet constant all the same, and Steve could not help but wanting to spend the rest of his life by his side.

There was just one problem.

Bucky.

 

***

 

To be fair, Bucky pretty much gave them his blessing from day one.

 

Bucky, a notoriously territorial dog, hated everyone that was not Steve. He growled like a feral dog whenever he heard people walking by the house, he barked at everyone who entered his territory, he snapped his jaws at hands that try to pet him – not that it happened very often, since people usually scrammed when they saw him, a giant of a dog, with massive jaws and sturdy legs and eyes so sharp he honed in on others like a rabbit he would love to swallow bones and all. And no matter how much Steve tried to brush his hair, he still appeared half-feral.

Of course, he was a total sweetie when it was just Steve around, acting like a bulky puppy and using Steve’s lap as his personal pillow. Plus, they had been through so much together already, Bucky probably saw him as his pack, just like how Steve considered him his brother. He knew that Bucky would always have his back and even if they were no longer in war-zone and the most Steve had to fear nowadays was probably being hit by a car crossing the road, it was still reassuring to know that there was someone with him, ‘til the end of the line and all.

It was very swell and all, but that also meant that Bucky tolerated no one else in his house and it became a huge problem when Steve resumed dating. The few people that Steve managed to go steady with since his return, Bucky hated them all. Sharon, a lovely lady working for MI6, whom Bucky barked at every single time she visited. Janet, whom Bucky tried to bite when she attempted to pet him. He chased Karen away in tears and left a set of bite mark on Andrew’s shin, which thankfully did not require stitching but had Steve worried over for weeks and pretty much killed any chance of him taking things to the next level. He had the best luck with Natasha, another special ops vet whom both had actually met back in Iraq. Bucky did not try to bite her shin when she came to the house, but still, he growled and scratched at the closed bedroom door through the nights she stayed over (which was no problem for Natasha, but they broke up anyway when she finally admitted to him that she had eyes for someone else, and two months after their break-up she started dating Clint and Laura).

Therefore, it was entirely logical for Steve to be worried when Tony wanted to come over for the first time. He tried to delay it as much as he could, flattering Tony’s ego by praising the penthouse shamelessly and going for how much pride Tony placed on his Tower and the technology that came with it, so that they would end up staying over at Tony’s. Other times, they got a hotel room, but after a few times Tony caught on to his ploy and ramped up his whining. Steve gave all sorts of excuses, how old and thin-walled his place was compared to Tony’s, how loud the neighbours were, how inconveniently located it was compared to the restaurants they frequented. Tony stopped asking after a few weeks, but before Steve could breathe out in relief, he found out (through Clint’s blabbermouth) that Tony only stopped because he figured Steve did not mean things to be serious anyway, that there was no point taking his fling home, that maybe Steve already had another at home, a husband or a wife, and Tony was just something on the side, and if that was all he was going to get from Steve then there was nothing else he could do but to accept it.

It broke Steve’s heart to know how insecure Tony was still in their relationship, despite the fact that he should be the insecure one, next to someone as brilliant as Tony. He wasted no time in settling things straight with Tony, but it still took Tony days before he believed that Steve was telling the truth.

(“–and I did not want you to come over because I was afraid my dog would maul you down, and I love you too much to let that happen!”

“Wait… you love me?”

“What?... Uh… Damn it, Tony.”

“You love me.”

“Of course I love you, you idiot. Been in love with you for weeks now. Oh god, that was probably too soon wasn’t it…”

“I’m in love with you too.”

“…Really?”

“Yes, Steve, I love you. Wow, it felt so weird to say it out loud, but since you’re not running for the hills and you said you loved me too, oh my god did you really say it because I think my brain’s gone offline now and I’m probably imagining all this and what are you doing smiling like that oh fuck I’ve made a mistake haven’t I you probably just meant it as friendship love or something and I–"

“Tony, shut up.”

Needless to say, oh-my-god-we-both-love-each-other sex was even more amazing than usual sex.)

Of course, as soon as the misunderstanding cleared up, Tony was back on his mission to infiltrate Steve’s house, only this time, Steve had no more reasons to refuse him. He tried telling Tony horror stories involving Bucky and his failed attempts of dating (with Natasha backing as proof), but Tony just beamed his large brown eyes at him and wobbled his lips, and while it looked fake as hell, Steve was still not immune to its effects.

  
Finally, on a nice spring weekend, he relented and gave Tony his address.

Before Tony’s imminent arrival, Steve tried his best to make sure that Bucky would be on his best behaviour (or be as good as he possibly could, Steve stopped being so hopeful years ago). He got Bucky’s favourite treats and spoiled him with a long walk and a good hour of Frisbee at the park. He gave him extra pets and cuddles, and he even sat Bucky down for a talk (“Tony’s very important to me and I really like him a lot, so please be nice to him tomorrow, you understand me Buck?”, to which Bucky’s jaws gaped widely for a yawn and he went back to burying his nose into Steve’s shirt as he snoozed). The next morning, he put Bucky in the garden, hoping that giving Tony a tour of the house and letting his scent settle in first would help with calming Bucky down.

Of course, the moment Bucky heard Tony’s car at the front, he proceeded to bark the whole neighbourhood down. No amount of shushing or scolding could quiet him down, so Steve resigned and let him in. Bucky gave him a glare when he trotted in, as if he knew exactly what Steve had in mind, then stayed plastered to Steve’s feet when he went to get the door. Steve put him on the leash just in case, with the other end firmly looped through his hand, hoping that at least if Bucky reacted violently he would be able to hold him back as Tony ran for his life. When Steve opened the door and Bucky made eye contact with Tony for the very first time, it was probably the longest five seconds of his life.

Then, the impossible happened.

Bucky’s entire demeanour changed. His aggression more or less dissolved, the pulled wrinkles on his brows smoothed out, the pulled-back skin at his jaws slackened and his tongue lolled out happily, his ears flipped back to the front, the tension on his entire body relaxed and he wagged his tail.

Wagged. His tail.

While Steve just stood there, looking flabbergasted, Tony knelt down in front of them to Bucky’s eye level (among other levels, but Steve really should get his head out of the gutter now, because Bucky. Wagged. His tail.)

“James?”

And Steve turned to look incredulously at Tony, who grinned happily and spread his arms out in greeting towards Bucky, who took advantage of Steve’s distraction and loose grip, leaped forward into Tony’s arms and licked enthusiastically at his cheeks. If possible, his tail wagged even more furiously now.

“I think we managed to make Steve speechless, Jamie-buddy.”

Bucky only answered with a happy bark.

 

As it turned out, Tony and Bucky knew each other.

Tony, who was captured and tortured for months in Afghanistan (and only now did Steve know the full story, since Tony was so sensitive about the scars on his chest he never really spoke at length about how those came to be), met Bucky when Erskine and him were also kidnapped by the Ten Rings. Why they decided to keep Bucky alive no one knew, but suffice to say the three of them grew pretty close in their captivity. When one of the guards shot Bucky’s leg for fun, Tony was the one who made him a metal leg after they had sawed the inflamed leg off. Bucky was the one who sneaked out and ran to the nearby US camp with a letter for help and led them back to the cave where Tony and Erskine were kept. During the scuffle, Erskine took a bullet that was meant for Tony and asked him to bring Bucky back to Iraq on his last breath. Tony, who had grown fond of Bucky, reluctantly arranged for Bucky’s flight back to Steve. Tony, who got used to calling Bucky ‘James’ after his best friend during their time in the cave, was in correspondence with General Phillips who kept him updated on Bucky up until his retirement with Steve.

And Bucky, who apparently remembered Tony, curled up like a docile Golden Retriever at Tony’s feet and pushed his head comfortably into his petting hand all the while Tony told Steve the story. That evening, when Steve came back to the living room after dinner to see Tony lounging on the sofa with Bucky half-draped on his belly, snuffling quietly with tail thumping slowly to Tony’s long stroke along his flank, he could not think of a more perfect picture. That, right there, was exactly what Steve had always wanted, a family in the making, someone he could share the rest of his life with, together with Bucky, a mesh of past and future.

When he carried a sleepy Tony to bed that night and Bucky jumped on the bed with them, settling happily at their feet, Steve only admonished him half-heartedly and petted his soft furry ears. Exception could be made for one day, and it was a very special day, after all.

 

Steve had spoken too soon.

While he was nothing but elated to know how easily Bucky welcomed Tony into their lives, it also dawned on him on how much Bucky really loved Tony.

Like, Tony might as well hung the moon and stars in Bucky’s eyes.

To be fair, Tony doted on Bucky and spoiled him rotten. With the advantage of knowing Bucky beforehand, Bucky’s scruffy appearance did not deter him the slightest and he smothered Bucky with pats and hugs and even kisses. He bought him the most fancy treats and let him nose around his workshop (Bucky loved the workshop, especially the bots whom he chased after like a puppy). He regularly did maintenance on Bucky’s leg and took over Steve’s task of rubbing the joint with soothing oil. He let Bucky climb all over him in excitement and snuggled with him in bed.

But still, that was nothing compared to how much Bucky adored Tony. He was extremely well-behaved when Tony was around, letting him touch and pet any parts of his body, even the prosthetic leg that he was usually so sensitive about. He followed Tony everywhere as he moved around the house and laid at his feet at dinnertime. He forsook Steve’s lap for Tony’s when they sat down for a movie in the evening and he whined and whimpered and pulled Tony’s sleeve whenever he had to leave. Even more than Steve, he treated Tony like a pup in his pack that he needed to protect at all cost. He became territorial of Tony, sticking close to him every waking moment and sleeping right next to him at night, he even snarled at Steve when Steve told him to get off the bed that one time.

Steve thought it was kind of cute at first, how protective Bucky was to Tony. It was also understandable, seeing that they had bonded over the worst of circumstances. It was way better than what he had envisioned in mind when he brought Tony home to Bucky; so, in a way, he should be grateful that Bucky had taken to Tony so well.

But then, three months passed by and he realised that he had not spent a single moment alone with Tony.

Sure, they met at SHIELD Headquarters frequently, but Tony had been so busy lately that those became just quick meetings and running across one another in the corridor as he juggled between works for SHIELD, meetings at SI and time spent innovating/inventing. Tony usually stayed at his penthouse four nights a week, but when he did stay over on the weekend, Bucky would be with them every minute. The few rare dates they had, Bucky insisted on tagging along every time, climbing into the car and not budging until they gave up and took him along. At least Bucky behaved while they were out, but that also meant that they were very conscious about having an audience during their supposedly ‘alone’ time. Steve felt uncomfortable making out with Tony in the car with Bucky sitting at the back, staring at them with narrowed blue eyes. Tony used to snuggle into his side as they walked down the street, but since he had Bucky’s leash (Bucky refused to walk leashed to Steve) and Bucky had developed this habit of yanking his leash, Tony had a hard time keeping close to Steve.

Steve missed having Tony’s warmth plastered on his side and he was starting to get very frustrated by Bucky’s antics. He was sure that Bucky knew exactly what he was doing and that was to keep Steve away from Tony.

Never would Steve think that he would have to fight Bucky for Tony. But, drastic time called for drastic measures. And so, one evening when they were in bed, with Tony working on his tablet, Steve reading a book with an arm around Tony’s waist and Bucky yet again snuggling along Tony’s right leg, as Bucky gave him a growl before snuggling closer to Tony, Steve glared at him and mouthed:  
“It is so on!”

 

***

 

The first thing that came to his mind was to take Tony away from Bucky.

No, not that Steve was going to leave Tony or Bucky altogether. Just, maybe they could go elsewhere on date night, somewhere that Bucky could not go to. It felt a bit like cheating, but Steve was pretty desperate at this point, and plus it would just be for a night.

 

He asked Sam to come over to stay with Bucky (Sam poked his ribs and waggled his eyebrows a whole lot and told Steve that Bucky was a dog from hell, but agreed to come anyway since he secretly liked to cuddle with him, the menace) and whisked Tony off for a night in town, burgers and milkshakes as Tony gesticulated a lot between bites, excited by a new line of Starkphone, while Steve dopeyly smiled at him and fed him bits of fries between sentences. They went to a bar that played live jazz where Steve took advantage of the low lights and nosed at Tony’s hair while they slowly swayed to the music. By the time they got back to the Tower, both were sufficiently feeling frisky and Steve wasted no time to pin Tony against the bedroom door, eager to tear off his shirt to get to the warm skin underneath.

Steve’s phone started ringing. Both of them ignored it, too engaged in the task of stripping one another.

Steve’s phone rang for a few more times, then stopped. Steve wondered if it was a SHIELD emergency, but was too occupied with leaving hickeys on Tony’s chest to be too concerned about it.

Then, just when things started to get interesting, JARVIS piped in:

“Sorry for the interruption, sirs, but there is an incoming call from Miss Romanov.”

“Guess it was a SHIELD thing after all”, Tony voiced his thoughts for him, albeit with a husky throaty voice that did nothing to stop his quest down south of his body.

And Steve really, really, really wanted to continue to follow Tony’s happy trail, but the responsible part of his brain told him that SHIELD would never call unless it was something urgent, also it was always a bad idea to miss a call from Natasha and he very much would like to avoid being castrated by her the next time they met.

So, so very unwillingly, he got off Tony with a sigh. Tony looked as if he wanted to risk Natasha’s wrath and pull him back down, but obviously thought better and told JARVIS to accept the call.

“Steve, I know you’re there.”

“You know I am, Natasha, what is the situation?”

“The situation is that you need to come to my house right now and take your monster of a dog back before he destroys another of Laura’s curtains.”

“…What? What is Bucky doing there?”

“He trashed your place and started to growl at Sam, so he dropped him in front of our door and ran for it. I’m going to skin him alive tomorrow, don’t you worry, but in the meantime Bucky had crashed all the vases in the living room and is now chewing on the curtains. Laura is hyperventilating and Clint is failing at calming her down, and none of us would like to have our limbs bitten off by the beast, so you’d better be dressed two minute ago and on your way here, you bastard, or I swear you will never be able to get it up again, Steven Grant Rogers!”

Of course, because she did train them very well, both Steve and Tony were in the car by the time her rant was over, albeit Tony was missing his shoes and Steve’s shirt was only half-buttoned. Bucky transformed back into a puppy when he saw the two of them and tried to squirm his way into Tony’s arms, ignoring Steve and looking at Tony with innocent baby blue eyes when Steve tried to scold him. Tony got Laura more curtains and a Ming dynasty set of china the next day, and thankfully Natasha only bruised Steve’s ribs the next time they sparred (he tried to get out of sparring with her but one sharp look from her was enough to turn his blood into ice). Sam apologised to all of them, but Steve also had to apologise to Sam, and now Sam no longer picked up his calls if it was close to the weekend.

 

Bucky just looked monstrously smug when he once more resumed his post on Tony’s left side on the bed, grinning toothily at Steve over Tony’s shoulder, and Steve felt like crushing the phone in his hand, or whacking Bucky’s snout with rolled-up newspaper.

 

***

 

If staying in New York was not an option, maybe it was time to take things abroad.

 

Fortunately, Tony had a business meeting in France that he could not get out of. Coincidentally, Phil was looking for someone to come play good cop/bad cop with a group of newly-caught terrorists that were imprisoned in Paris at the time, and by pulling some strings (i.e looking all patriotic and determined in front of Phil while giving a prepared speech of why he would be excellent at the job), Steve was on a plane to Paris the next day. Bucky, who saw Steve packing his stuff the day before, looked at him suspiciously, but he was used to Steve being away on missions and did not kick up a fuss when Phil came to pick him up. Steve spent the flight over the Atlantic thinking of sketching Tony against a French backdrop and not at all reading the briefing paper he was given. He arrived in Paris at night and surprised Tony at his hotel room with a bouquet of flowers. It was cheesy as hell, but Tony was so suitably impressed that he dropped down onto his knees the moment the door was closed.

The next few days were utter bliss. Tony went to his meetings and tried to appear as if he was interested while Pepper passive-aggressively shot down their potential business partners’ attempt at passing some pathetically hidden clauses. Steve went to Fresnes and interrogated a bunch of what turned out to be ex-HYDRA shrimps. In the evening, they went strolling down the Seine and had dinner at swanky restaurants and kissed under the starry sky. He learned that Tony had the most sinful French accent (also because he only knew the dirty phrases) and rediscovered how gorgeous Tony was on top of him, riding him into the mattress with head thrown back and loud moans and breathy whimpers. Afterwards, Tony tucked himself underneath Steve’s arm and snuggled into his chest as Steve played with Tony’s soft locks without worrying that there was a giant dog glaring at him and flanking Tony’s other side.

Things went so well, Steve was thinking of taking his vacation leave now and extending the France trip. Tony seemed amenable to the suggestion and talked about going south to Cannes, maybe Monaco, while Steve drew Tony’s face as it was illuminated under the Eiffel.

 

But then, five days into their paradise, they got a knock at the door. Phil was on the other side, looking apologetic while Bucky rushed in and threw himself at Tony desperately like Tony had been gone for ages. Steve tried very hard not to glare at Phil, who told him that he had some business in Switzerland and had surely left Bucky with Hill, but halfway through his flight SHIELD staff found Bucky hiding away in the engine room, and while they were relieved that he had not destroyed any of the cables or machines they made Phil promise to keep an eye on him. When they got to Geneva, Bucky whined and cried so much through the night no one in the entire hotel could sleep and he resumed attacking strangers, so Phil had to take him elsewhere, and seeing that his meeting was supposed to be in a few hours could Steve please take Bucky so that he could catch the fly out as soon as possible, thanks very much.

Bucky ended up staying with them for the rest of the week. Tony got them a beach house down in Côte d'Azur and Bucky once again claimed his spot next to Tony on the bed. At least they had a few days to themselves, Steve thought miserably, but then Bucky growled at them when he unconsciously pushed Tony down onto the folded chair in a moment of passion and Steve once more vowed to resolve the Bucky problem before he died from frustration.

 

***

 

Steve learned that it was not a good idea to keep Bucky away from Tony. None of their friends agreed to dog-sit for him anymore, even Phil whom he suspected had a framed photo of him in his bedroom (which kind of crept him out, but Tony was the one who told him this so he might just be yanking his chains). Bucky seemed to be nicer to Tony’s friends, but the one time he asked Pepper, Bucky spent the evening moping around her place, whining at her pitifully like a giant puppy and staring at photos of Tony on her mantelpiece like a lovelorn teenager. Pepper, a formidable lady who could crush her business rivals like paper dolls without blinking an eyelash, caved under Bucky’s deceptive innocence and brought him back to Steve’s that night right in the middle of their making out on the couch. She looked an entirely unimpressed at their wrinkled clothes but seemed guilty enough when Bucky padded into the living room and plopped down on the couch like he never left (they spent the evening cuddling glumly while Bucky reclaimed his spot on Tony’s lap, his nose wrinkling every so often and glaring at Steve like he knew what they were up do prior to his arrival).

So, no more forced separation. Steve would try to placate Bucky’s protective instinct this time. They would go on a normal date with Bucky tagging along. Nice picnic, walk in Central Park, then back to Tony’s place. They would let Bucky stay with the bots, since Bucky adored them, and let them distract Bucky for a couple hours. JARVIS could let them know if Bucky was getting antsy. Bucky could learn to stay out of the room and in the morning, he would realise that Steve had not harmed Tony during the night, Tony would emerge a happy healthy person and Bucky really had nothing to worry about.

The plan seemed to work so far. Bucky docilely walked between them on the stroll, quietly lied on the dog bed they kept in Tony’s living room and had a grand time playing fetch with the bots in the corridor. He did not even faze when Steve pulled Tony away into the bedroom and closed the door. From inside the room they could hear Bucky’s nails clicking on the wooden floor and the whirring sound of the bots as they chased after him.

Then, they came across a box of Tony’s old toys in the walk-in closet and decided to try something new. Steve never knew that BDSM would be a thing for him (saying it out loud was enough to make him flushed red), but the sight of Tony face down on the bed, his wrists cuffed to the headboard, knees propping his ass up as he wantonly cried out when Steve mouthed down his spine was way more arousing that he ever dreamed it to be. When Steve impulsively smacked Tony’s bottom when he wiggled too much, it shocked a pathetic cry out of Tony and made him rock upwards, more or less rubbing along Steve’s dick, which made him even harder if that was at all possible. Tony turned around and looked at him with dazed teary eyes, but he also squirmed excitedly and hoarsely told

Steve to continue, and Tony just looked so good he had to give him another slap.

Which was when a jolt of pain shot up his leg. Steve cried out in shock, removed himself from Tony and looked down to see Bucky’s jaws snapping around his right leg. Tony, who by now realised that something was wrong, tried to turn around and see, but his wrists were still cuffed and his movements were limited. Bucky, seeing Tony struggle on the bed, snarled like a cornered dog and sank his teeth even deeper into Steve’s flesh. It took a while, but Tony finally managed to convince Bucky to let Steve go, looking conflicted between worrying for Steve and trying to keep Bucky calm, all the while still bound to the bed and not having much of a peripheral vision, and by the time Bucky let go and Steve had un-cuffed Tony from the bed, ample blood had gushed out through the bite mark and it hurt so much that it made Steve dizzy. Tony dashed off to the bathroom for a first-aid kit while Bucky followed him at his heels, eyes still trained on Steve all the while.

 

They spent the restless night keeping an eye on Steve’s wound. Tony insisted on taking Steve to the hospital, but the bite was not too deep and Steve refused to go. While he spent the next week home waiting for the bite to heal, Phil tentatively brought up the suggestion of having Bucky put down, since he was starting to become dangerous to everyone, even his owner. Steve shot him down right away, unable to bear the thought of hurting Bucky or having him taken away. Plus, he could see why Bucky reacted the way he did. The last time he saw Tony hit and chained, it was Afghanistan and Tony was indeed in danger. In essence, he just saw Steve as someone who would hurt Tony again and did not hesitate to protect him. Anyway, the wound was much less severe than Bucky was capable of inflicting and he looked downright guilty the entire week Steve was at home. He dialed down his aggression to Steve and resumed cuddling and snuggling with him on the couch, even when Tony was around, as if in apology. He no longer growled at Steve, although he still followed them to bed at night.

 

(Bucky got back to his growling state after Steve was healed and attempted to go on dates with Tony alone again. Steve really started to consider putting Bucky in a box (labelled “Free for a good home. Must know first-aid” and leaving him under a bridge somewhere, but he knew that even if he left Bucky in wasteland Russia, there was a high chance that he would find his way home anyway. Plus, Bucky only had Tony’s best interest at heart which Steve had to be thankful for, although the scars on his shin tried to convince him otherwise.)

 

***

 

Tonight would be the night, Steve thought for sure.

 

Learning from his old mistakes, Steve had everything planned out perfectly. No more big gestures this time, they would just stay in and have homemade dinner, rustic and quiet. Steve had the roast in the oven and panna cotta chilled in the fridge. After dinner, Steve would turn on some music and he could give Tony a foot massage afterwards, since Tony was always a fan of Steve’s massage. And then, once he had Tony all soft and pliant, he would carry Tony to bed and worship his body like he was meant to do. And most importantly, Bucky would be out of the house. Peggy and her wife Angie were in New York for a few weeks and were happy to let Bucky stay with them for the night (well, Angie, who missed Bucky dearly, was, while Peggy just looked at his desperate face and smirked like she knew exactly why he asked them). It would just be the two of them at home, both phones turned off for no distraction. Tony was pleasantly surprised when he saw the neatly set dinner table, complete with candles and flowers, and decided to reward him so generously he could still feel the phantom of Tony’s mouth on his dick hours later. The plan went smoothly and soon enough, he had Tony spread out like a feast on the bed, legs opened and caging Steve’s waist, three of his fingers deep inside Tony as he played with Tony’s nipples with his tongue.

Of course, the very moment Steve started thrusting in, both of them were startled by a series of loud barks from the garden window. Bucky was standing up on his hind legs, his forelegs leaning against the window, barking madly at the two of them.

Steve plopped down on top of Tony and buried his head into the base of Tony’s neck, groaning to the increasingly loud barks from the outside. Tony only sighed and petted his hair regretfully.

“We’d better bring him inside before the neighbours think that one of us kills the other and call the cops. Again.”

Steve had half the mind to let that happen anyway, he had planned so long for this night, but he knew that Tony was right. He sat up and tried to get out of bed, not realising that he was still inside Tony, until a spike of electric ran from the base of his spine up to his neck as he moved and Tony let out a long moan, tilting his hips up instinctively to follow Steve’s movement. Steve was this close to just screw it and continue fucking Tony anyway, both of them were still hard, Tony’s body lithe and golden and he had the most orgasmic expression on his face, and his every twitch sent another shot of sensation through Steve, and if he could just zone Bucky’s barks out, then…

There was a loud thump against the window as Bucky body-slammed at the door, single-mindedly trying to get inside the room. A small crack started to form in the centre of the glass, threatening to widen as Bucky ran off into the garden to gain momentum for his next crash.

Even Tony’s lewd body was not enough to turn him on again that night.

 

(“What is Bucky doing back at my house???”

“Oh my god, Bucky’s home?! Oh thank goodness, Angie, Bucky’s gone back to Steve’s, can you please let the police know that he–“

“Peggy, what happened? Why is he back??”

“We tried calling you all night, he sneaked out at some point after dinner, he must have managed to open the front door. We were so worried, we thought that someone’d come in and taken him, or he’d got lost somewhere, this isn’t his neighbourhood. We looked for him for hours, we called the police, we were already on the way to your place. Thank god he’s back safely. He’s all right, isn’t he?”

“Yes, Bucky’s fine. I’m not, thanks for asking!”

“You sound so snippy for someone who knows his dog is safely home.”

“Well, I wouldn’t mind if he was half an hour late. Bucky has the most horrible timing, I swear he has an internal clock that’s set to when Tony and I are together.”

“Wait, so Tony and you were, uh, together together?”

“I mean…”

“Oh my god you were! Did Bucky see? Poor baby, did you traumatise him?”

“Traumatise him?? What about me? And stop laughing, it’s not funny!”

“Oh but it is, it’s the best. Oh dear, I’ve trained Bucky so well.”

“Pegs, he slammed at the window trying to get inside.”

“Well, you can’t say that he’s not a good guard dog.”

“But why does he need to guard Tony from me?”

“You two were doing things, yes? Maybe he thought Tony was in danger? Did Tony look or sound pained? Oh wait, you know what, don’t answer that, I don’t need to know what you two are up to– No Angie, we don’t need to know, I know you think that Tony’s fit, that’s between us, Angie– Anyway, sorry about your night Steve. Hope you had a good time before that at least.”)

 

***

 

Before long, Bucky became a legend around SHIELD. Or, as Clint liked to call it, Steve’s cock-blocking beast. Apparently SHIELD agents had a lot of free time on their hands, because alongside the when-will-they-be-caught-banging-on-Fury’s-desk pool, now there was a when-will-Steve-give-up-on-Bucky and when-will-Tony-ultimately-leave-Steve-for-Bucky pools, which both attracted massive support (and money) from agents at all levels. Even Fury was in on the (terribly named) ‘Buny’ ship (“It’s only the matter of time, Rogers.”). Natasha, who had gotten over the household destruction fiasco, was now in charge of a countdown clock to the day Tony left Steve a “Dear Steve” letter and ran off with Bucky into the sunset.

They mostly found the situation hilarious, but Steve himself was at his wit’s end.

 

The thing was, he could not even discuss it with Tony. Despite all that happened, Tony still adored Bucky. Sure, after Steve’s attack he was more wary of him, but since Bucky was always such an angel around him, he charted it down to a singular incident in which Bucky was meant to feel threatened anyway. Plus, prior to their meeting Steve had scared him a lot about how terrible Bucky was with other people, so for Bucky to regard him as family was just too good to be true. They also had an intense history together, one that left permanent scars on both of them but also brought them together and even Steve could not question it.

In a way, Steve not only felt jealous of Bucky, but of Tony as well. Before Tony, Steve was Bucky’s whole world. A comrade, a brother-in-arms from the past who supported him and followed him unconditionally, who stuck by him through the battlefield into danger zones, who adopted Steve as much as he adopted him, who tracked him down and found him among the rubble in the first place. A best friend who came home with him, who helped him getting used to America once again, who rediscovered the streets of New York with him and nuzzled into his arms on rough nights. Bucky had saved him in more ways than he could count and for years it was always Steve and Bucky, Bucky and Steve, ‘til the end of the line. People waltzed in and out of their lives, some for just a little while, some stayed for much longer, yet in the end they would always feel most comfortable around one another.

So, when Tony came into their lives, it was like he had taken Bucky from him. Bucky, who now revolved his attention and undying devotion to Tony, saw him as another in his pack, someone soft-bellied and fragile that needed to be protected. Bucky, who remembered the horrors the two of them faced in that dim cave in Afghanistan, remembered the man who hugged him through cold nights and made him a new leg and shared the few morsels of food with him, the man who brought him home to Steve. Bucky, who saw the scars and blood on Tony and told himself, never again. Bucky, who saw Steve as a threat to Tony. Bucky, who was no longer his best mate, his second-in-command, his anchor in the world. Bucky now looked at him like a stranger while Steve helplessly let that happen because the alternative meant he would lose them both.

Sometimes, he wished that he had never met Tony, so that Tony would never meet Bucky again. Immediately after that, he felt disgusted at himself. Because Tony, Tony was everything. Tony was the love of his life, the other side to his coin, so very different yet fundamentally the same. Tony, who lived through horrors and pains and came back stronger, who changed his way when he saw what his creations were brought to be, who now worked for the better good, investing endless time and energy and resources in SHIELD. Tony, who shared a long nightmare with Bucky, who saved both Bucky and himself in the process, who made sure that Bucky was home safe. Tony, who saw the good that was in the scruffy scary shell of a dog, who loved Bucky unquestionably like a friend, a brother in his own right. Tony, who was one of this new world, yet also shared Steve and Bucky’s world, who walked the line between light and darkness, who gave them his heart and expected nothing in return. Tony, who made Bucky a better leg and rebuild the essence of New York in Steve. Tony, his better half, his partner, his soulmate. Tony, whom he could not live without, Tony, whose rings of laughter fuelled his world.

 

So, he bit the bullet and looked on as the loves of his life getting closer to each other and felt colder by the days.

 

***

 

Then, Tony was kidnapped.

They should have seen this coming. Tony was a highly classified celebrity who owned Stark Industries and had access to high-tech weaponry on a daily basis. Tony, whose brilliant mind meant the creation of a miniaturised arc reactor in a cave and a new element synthesised in his basement. Tony, who had connections with SHIELD and the Army. Tony, a world-class genius, was essentially still a man with no military training and none of the protection one of his calibre should have. Tony, the most prized bargaining chip of all.

It was impossibly easy. Tony, the wild unpredictable creature that he was, had a widely known weakness – his love for coffee. Namely, coffee from a shop opposite of Stark Tower which he swore was the best he had ever had. So, it was only a matter of time before someone took notice, planted a smoke bomb and scurried him away in the chaos. By the time the smoke was cleared and people realised that Tony was gone, he was already halfway through the States.

 

What was less widely known was that Tony, the paranoid man that he was, had implanted a chip on himself, in case the very scenario of kidnapping arose. Which was why Steve and Bucky and a hoard of SHIELD agents were flying to Nevada, a trail of US Air Force lead by Colonel James Rhodes hot on their heels. Bucky was not meant to go, but he planted his feet and growled and snarled and Steve, already half-blinded with fury and fear for Tony, made no effort to stop him.

They arrived at an abandoned casino near Reno and went after the blinking signal from the chip. Bucky found it on a poker machine, caked with blood.

Then the whole building went down.

Steve, who was saved by a column nearby that blocked the ceiling coming down above him, crawled out of the ruins among a billow of dust and smoke. It took them hours to locate everyone and pulled them out. There were no fatalities, but a lot were badly injured. Colonel Rhodes got a poker machine to his head and was unconscious, Natasha had a long gash on her arm and a bigger bruise on her temple. Bucky, whose prosthetic leg was dented, limped towards Steve, blood dripping from his flank and Tony’s chip wedged between his teeth.

By the time they had regrouped and transferred the injured to the hospital, Fury sent them a message saying that the kidnappers had made contact via a video and asked for a ransom. They wanted money and political favours, and more importantly they wanted SHIELD technology. As Fury and the Senate debated on the merits of rescuing Tony, JARVIS managed to track down the source of the video to a town in Nebraska. Steve sneaked away from the meeting and found himself a jet. As he walked up the ramp, a bark behind stopped him on his track. Bucky stood a few feet from him, his middle covered with thick bandage, his metal leg still dented, but his eyes were sharp and focus. He hobbled towards Steve, seemingly to come with him, but Steve stopped him with a hand on his head, which Bucky thankfully did not snap at, although he let out a low growl.

“I will bring him back, I promise.”

It was probably the promise, or the look of anguish and determination in Steve’s eyes, or the fact that he was badly injured and could barely walk, but Bucky relented. His growl turned into a whine and he nuzzled Steve’s knee, letting him pet his head and ears. He pushed his snout into Steve’s hand and dropped the bloody chip into it, asking for a promise that Steve repeated like his life depended on it.

 

Steve went into the hideout like a typical SHIELD extraction mission, because he could not keep the mentality of rescuing Tony in his mind, his heart ached so much just thinking of Tony in pain, of the open wound on Tony’s arm where the chip used to be, the rage like an all-consuming fire that threatened to blind him and make him reckless. He tried to think of it as a mission to rescue just another faceless big-name official, tried to be objective. He did not think of Tony’s scared face when he broke the neck of the guards at the entrance. He did not think of Tony’s scream when he gunned down the men that came to him, shouting to one another in foreign tongue. He did not think of Tony’s shiny brown eyes when he kneecapped the leader and tied him up in steel wires, taking no joy in the metal that cut into soft flesh as the man struggled.

When he opened the door to a dingy cell and saw Tony chained to the wall, face a giant blooming bruise and torso painted with long slashes, the rage roared back to life. It was only by cradling Tony close in his arms and inhaling the faint scent of his hair that the furious monster in him died down to an ember. He could feel his face wet with tears, either from pain or relief, and could feel Tony wiping a bloodstained hand on his cheek, soothing him with quiet whispers, as if he was the one captured and tormented. He did not let go of Tony’s hand when the medics finally came and took him out on a stretcher. He stayed still like stone outside of the operation theatre when Tony was in surgery, was not aware of doctors and nurses rushing around him or his friends who came and sat with him.

The next time he was aware of anything, Bucky was sitting in front of him, his right paw placed on his thigh, big soulful eyes looking straight into his soul. Steve ignored everyone else around him and slid down onto the floor, hugging Bucky and sobbing into his warm matted fur, feeling Bucky’s rumble travelling through his body into Steve’s chest, absorbing and sharing the agony of the one other being who also loved Tony that much, his brother who knew his pain inside and out.

Fifteen hours later when they piled into Tony’s IC room, Steve went and sat by Tony’s bed, holding a thin hand in his and placed his head down on the bed, consciousness quickly fading from exhaustion. He saw in the corner of his gritty eyes, Bucky standing on the other side of Tony’s head, nosing at Tony’s other hand and whined when Tony did not pet him like usual. When Steve woke up, Tony was still unconscious, the only sounds in the room were the constant beeping of the monitors and Bucky’s quiet snore as he laid at Steve’s chair, his head pillowed on Steve’s feet, warm like a blanket.

 

When Tony woke up that afternoon, Steve hugged and peppered kisses all over Tony’s face, much to the man’s amusement and fake gagging. Bucky was uncharacteristically quiet the whole while, and when Tony saw him, he patted the other side of his bed, wordlessly telling him to get into bed. Bucky walked over to the bedside, but instead of jumping up right away like he usually did, he turned and looked at Steve, as if asking for permission, the first time he had ever done such a thing. When Steve looked through Tony’s wound and was sure that a bit of jostling would not reopen them, he nodded and Bucky gingerly climbed onto the bed, then scooted over to Tony’s leg and draped his heavy head on his thigh, whimpering softly.

“What are you still doing on the chair? Come up and complete my super soldier blanket.”

Steve climbed up on Tony’s other side, sat leaning against the headrest and let Tony rest his head on his shoulder, petting the soft strands of his hair and massaging his scalp until he moaned tiredly. As Tony slowly drifted into sleep, he caught Bucky’s eyes, but this time, he did not look smug or threatening, only quietly speculative, and when Steve reached out to him with his other hand, Bucky licked his fingers and let him play with his ears.

(Afterwards, the doctors made a big fuss when they found the three of them snuggling in bed. Bucky gave them a baleful look and bared his pointy teeth which effectively shut them up. Tony asked Steve whether he could borrow Bucky next time he had to stay in hospital and Steve growled at him, saying that Tony would not have to stay in a hospital again ever, not on his watch. Bucky leaned against him and thumped his tail, so he also agreed. Tony pouted, but he let the two of them cuddle him with a smile on his face, plus he had been trying to persuade Rhodes to get him the good coffee for a few days now, so it was not like he minded.)

 

***

 

After the kidnapping incident, Bucky’s attitude to Steve changed completely.

 

Steve had the feeling that Bucky was judging him the entire time before the incident and the fact that he brought Tony back to them meant that he passed some sort of test in Bucky’s head. Now, Bucky no longer growl or snarl at him when he got too close to Tony and he no longer acted like Steve was going to hurt Tony when he turned his back. Steve was no longer the ‘bad guy’ in Bucky’s book.

He still liked to plop down on Tony’s lap but accepted that sometimes Steve needed his close proximity instead, or Tony wanted to climb into Steve’s lap and cuddle him for a while. He still got antsy when Tony was out of sight for too long (but then again, so was Steve) and he still wanted to sleep in their room at night, but now he placed a paw on the bed first, as if to gauge their reaction. If it was a quiet sleepy night and Tony looked like he needed some extra cuddle, Steve would nod his head and Bucky would jump up right away. But if Steve felt like having some alone time with Tony, he would shake his head and grimaced, and Bucky, while looking unhappy, would go into the corridor and waited as Steve closed the door (he would still not do anything with Tony while Bucky was in the room, it was still super weird to know Bucky could hear them even from the outside). After they finished cleaning up, Steve would open the door and Bucky would come in to sleep in their room, albeit on a pile of blankets they left for him at the foot of the bed (because even Tony said no at Bucky snuggling into him while he was naked). Bucky no longer asked to tag along all of their dates, no longer felt worried and nervous when Tony had to leave the house without him. They still took him along sometimes, but when they did not and had a friend coming over to dogsit him, Bucky did not try to escape the house and hunt them down again.

Once in a while, Bucky still gave him a funny look when he draped his gangling body over Tony like giant teddy bear, but it was mostly for show now, like a guy teasing his brother to get a rise out of him. He suspected that Tony knew exactly what was going on and was actively encouraging him (only because Steve himself became super possessive himself when it happened, which usually led to very creative and mind-blowing sex), but Steve mock-sighed and let it happen anyway.

 

When they got married a year later, Clint took great joy in telling everyone the Bucky story and embarrassing the hell out of Steve (“Really, when you think about it, Steve was just jealous that his kid loves the step-dad more than him.”). But, while he hid his face in the crook of Tony’s neck amidst everyone’s laughter and Clint’s recollection of the shenanigans that Bucky got into in order to ruin Steve’s dates (the majority of which were not even made up), even when he grumbled as Tony’s laughter vibrated through his jaws, he could feel Tony’s warm hand drawing soothing circles on his thigh, and next to the other, Bucky lazily gnawed at his fingers, his flank pressing at Steve’s leg like a furnace, Steve could not help but smiled.  
He would not trade this for anything in the world.

**Author's Note:**

> The whole fic spanned out from the Steve-Peggy panic conversation, btw.  
> Bucky's breed is not specified, but I imagined him to be something like an Alsatian Shepalute, or a long-haired German Shepherd cross. He's basically a black-grey large dog. Don't know whether they would be typical bomb detection dog material though.  
> Also, despite being listed as 'part of a series', this may or may not actually become a series. I toyed with the idea of adding a puppy!Peter into this household for the longest time (because come on, of course there is a puppy!Peter!), but the inspiration came and went and I never finished that arc. So - maybe? *shrugs*


End file.
